Posted: 24th Jun, 2003 By: MarkJ
The All Party Internet Group (APIG), a cross-party committee of government MPs, is set to investigate whether ISPs that fail to take action against SPAM (junk e-mail) should be blacklisted!:
"We are going to look at whether it is possible to control those ISPs that refuse to control spammers. I think to say to an ISP that is allowing millions of spams a day 'we are going to turn you off' is perfectly justifiable," said Liberal Democrat MP Richard Allen.
Junk e-mail, which is growing at a rate of 1,000% a year, already costs European businesses £1.5bn in lost productivity, according to estimates from Microsoft. About 19% of spam is pornography, according to research from Brightmail.
The All Party Internet Group plans to look for industry-led solutions to the problem of spam, and to encourage ISPs in the US and the Far East, where many unsolicited e-mails originate, to learn from the best practice adopted by UK ISPs.We can't help but feel that the APIG's solution may be somewhat too aggressive. Not to mention the lack of detail regarding exactly what "
taking action to prevent" means.
From our experience most SPAM doesnt even originate from UK ISPs, instead preferring to abuse free e-mail only providers etc. More @
CW360.